Deutsches Theater, (
German: “German Theatre”) private dramatic society founded in Berlin in 1883 by the dramatist Adolf L’Arronge in reaction to outmoded theatrical traditions. It presented plays in the ensemble style of the influential Meiningen Company. In 1894 it was affiliated with the Freie Bühne (“Free Theatre”) under Otto Brahm, who promoted the new naturalistic style of production. The company experienced another revival under the direction of Max Reinhardt from 1905 and again during the 1920s with Bertolt Brecht. The society was disbanded after World War I but was revived in 1934 by Heinz Hilpert, who was acting there and who had succeeded Reinhardt in 1937. Hilpert, who also directed the Deutsches Theater at Göttingen, maintained the integrity of the society throughout the reign of Adolf Hitler until he resigned his post in 1944.

Learn More in these related articles:

experimental acting group begun in 1866 and directed by George II, duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and his morganatic wife, the actress Ellen Franz. It was one of the first companies in which the importance of the director was stressed.

independent Berlin theatre founded in 1889 by 10 writers and critics and supervised by the writer-director Otto Brahm for the purpose of staging new, naturalistic plays. Like André Antoine ’s Théâtre-Libre in Paris, Brahm’s company gave private performances to...